


What is in a Name

by wsm021



Category: The OC (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 11:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15169520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wsm021/pseuds/wsm021
Summary: It took sometime but Ryan has finally accepted what others have known for a long time. He's a Cohen, plain and simple.





	What is in a Name

**Author's Note:**

> Brought this over from my Fanfiction account. Minor edits made and still no beta so all mistakes are mine. 
> 
> Disclaimer: If I owned The O.C you'd know about it.

He'd been given this option a long time ago but it had never seemed all that important to him back then. Now it was all he really thought about. He'd had the papers for months and had yet to sign them. The excuse was also that he either didn't have the time or couldn't find a pen. Taylor had began to notice how restless he'd become and chalked it up to pre-wedding jitters but if there was one thing he was sure of, it was how much he wanted to be married to that crazy redhead. 

It was more a question of what name her wanted to give her when they tied the knot. She told him it didn't matter, that any name they shared would be perfect but Ryan just didn't share that sentiment. There was more to a name then just the letters and sounds. A name carried history and while the Atwood history would always be a part of who Ryan was, the same did not need to be said for her. Taylor deserved better than that and so did the kids they were sure to have.

He'd brought it up to Seth and was rewarded with a laughing fit that resembled hyperventilating. Apparently Seth had forgotten that Ryan even had a last name so it didn't matter much either way. Behind the laughter though, Ryan could tell that it did matter to his brother, it mattered a lot. Summer summerized it perfectly - a part of Seth was still insecure about his role in Ryan's life, especially since Trey had reached out and started putting in work to rebuilding their relationship, and if Ryan was a Cohen that was just one more thing to tie them together. He'd promised to talk to him about it but Summer assured him that on a rational level Seth knew how solid their relationship was but he was only human. And when it came to her, he'd be Chino until the day he dead so she'd support whatever decision he eventually got around to making.

Kirsten had cried, said that it was enough that he was even considering it. He remembered right after the earthquake when he'd been in the hospital and he'd called her mom for the first time. The look she'd given him made him, such happiness that it made him feel like shit for not having said it soon. He made a point to call her mom as often if not more than he called her Kirsten and the same went for Sandy. Frank hadn't liked it much but at the end of the day everyone was very aware who Ryan considered to be his father.

So what was in a name, it was history, it was who you were, who your parents were, it told people where you belonged. He wasn't just an Atwood, hadn't been for a very long time. Signing these papers meant finally accepting something that had been true for over a decade. He was a Cohen. 

Even this close to the wedding Ryan had trouble believing that this was his life. That he got to watch Taylor as she moved around the kitchen he'd designed, filling their home with the smell of freshly baked pie, and all over holiday goodness. They were having Christmas dinner at their house this year and she'd been up all morning preparing while he ran errands. He wrapped his arms around her waist and just soaked in the feelings of love and contentment that always came when she was in his arms.

"How does Taylor Bliss Atwood-Cohen sound to you?"

She turned in his arms beore hopping up on the counter and bringing him closer with her legs. She tilted her head to one side and then the next. She sighed as if deep in thought while playing with the hair at the back of his neck. He runs his hands up and down her thighs smiling at the dramatics she never grows tired of. She repeats the name, her name come March, over and over as he chuckles gently, it sounds amazing to him.

"How does Ryan James Atwood-Cohen sound to you?" she says with a giggle. And he thinks not for the first time about just much he loved this woman. 

"Sounds pretty perfect."


End file.
